India vs England: Indian batsmen back to life after torrid time but bowlers fail in final overs in first ODI against England

It was a wicket tailor-made for the Indian batsmen to get back into form and that is exactly what they did. But that couldn't stop England from registering a nine-run victory in the first One-Day International at the new Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium here on Friday.

Chasing a stiff target of 326, India managed 316 for nine in their 50 overs. Barring Virat Kohli (15), all the Indian batsmen showed signs of coming back to life after a torrid time.

Click here to EnlargeGautam Gambhir (52), Yuvraj Singh (61) and Suresh Raina (50) all ensured that critics wouldn't call for their heads - at least for a while. But personal milestones alone can't ensure victory when chasing a mammoth total and good partnerships need to be the order of the day - as shown by their English counterparts.

While Alastair Cook and Ian Bell put on 158 for the opening wicket, breaking the record for the highest opening partnership for England against India - 133 put on by Chris Tavare and Barry Wood at Headingley in 1982 - the highest partnership for India was 96 for the first wicket between Ajinkya Rahane and Gambhir.

Cook and Bell set the platform and the English middleorder capitalised, with Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan putting on 76 runs and Samit Patel and Craig Kieswetter putting up an unbeaten 70-run stand. In fact, it was that final partnership that proved to be the difference between the sides as 38 came off the last two overs.

Ishant Sharma bore the brunt of that with the equal third-worst figures by an Indian in ODIs, 10-2-86-0, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar bled 52 in seven overs. This enabled England to get their first victory in a bilateral series in India since 2006. In fact on their last three trips to the country, England have won just one of 16 matches. England off-spinner James Tredwell (4/44) then showed R Ashwin just where he's going wrong by breaking the back of the Indian top-order.

Rahane and Gambhir got the Indian reply off to a flier, going after Jade Dernbach and Steven Finn. But Rahane (47) was dismissed against the run of play by Tredwell. Gambhir left soon after, flicking Tredwell straight to Bell at mid-wicket. Yuvraj looked like a man possessed as he took the English bowlers to the cleaners but Tredwell once again showed what the role of an attacking spinner is as he sent the Punjab batsman packing.

Hope still lingered as Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina upped the ante, taking full advantage of the English bowlers' inexperience. But Tredwell again had the last laugh as he forced Raina to return a dolly catch to him. Dhoni (32 off 24 balls) did strike some lusty blows, but the skipper's dismissal to Dernbach ended any hopes India harboured of registering the highest successful run-chase in this country.

Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar did find the fence a few times, but those final overs returned to haunt India as they fell to yet another defeat.